Tags
ethics, Gilead, influence, Mockingbird, nonfiction, poetry, random, reading, riches, Sermon on the Plain, Spirituality, Spoon River, story
At infrequent intervals in my Twitter feed, a promoted item shows up with the head: “Elon Musk Wants You to Read These Nine Books” or “Nine Books Elon Musk Thinks Everyone Should Read” or some variant of that message. I suppose that we are to make the leap from this headline to believe that if we read these books, we will then become as wealthy as Mr. Musk.
As if reading these nine books will make me as wealthy as Musk. Since 570,000 people cannot become the richest person in the world, I’ll skip the reading and leave the wealth to Elon. On the other hand, I offer Elon Musk a brief list of reading materials that may help him to understand those of us who are not in his category of wealth and may help his worldview. This random list is not grounded in wealth or in any systemic understanding of literature. Simply a few suggestions. No one will become financially wealthy from reading these works, but readers may gain a richer interior life.
“Ozymandias,” by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Fourteen lines of poetry concerning empires and history. Listen to David Olney offer two interpretations of the poem.
“Anne Rutledge,” by Edgar Lee Masters. Part of Spoon River Anthology, which I commend to you as a whole piece, but “Anne Rutledge” may better suit your schedule.
The Sermon on the Plain, Luke 6:17-49. Verses 17-19 set the context. The words of Jesus begin in verse 20. Here Jesus offers spiritual wisdom for daily living, including such challenges as blessing those who curse you. You may enjoy reading these words in The Message.
The Story of Ferdinand the Bull, by Munro Leaf. A simple story written in 1938 that affirms differences.
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Because the struggle remains and because Lee’s book begins to define justice in the midst of injustice.
Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic, by Reinhold Niebuhr. A 20th century ethicist, Niebuhr wrote more in-depth books, but Leaves offers a glimpse of the moral themes he addressed throughout his lifetime. Written between 1915 and 1928 when Niebuhr was a pastor in growing urban Detroit, Michigan.
The Gilead sequence of books by Marilynne Robinson. The four books are Gilead, Home, Lila, and Jack. Because it is family, and family is messy.
The Human Comedy, by William Saroyan. Because Saroyan’s perspective on family and community is needed in the world and because his writing is neglected.
“The Journey,” by Mary Oliver. You’ll find this poem in any number of anthologies, but I like Oliver’s collection titled Devotions. There you’ll also find “The Summer Day.”
And a bonus: Three Prayers You’ll Want to Pray, a book that I wrote and included because the book is excellent. Here’s a link to Powell’s City of Books, a great independent bookstore. Don Saliers of Emory University wrote: “Here is a book that opens personal and social depths of prayer like no other in recent memory. Three well-known prayer texts co-mingle with the author’s life-story to reveal things about prayer and life so desperately needed in today’s world. The unlikely combination of prayers by a diplomat, a theologian, and a rabbi—sounded by George Donigian’s distinctive Armenian-American voice—come alive as prophecy, wisdom, and saving grace. Elegantly written, these pages will invite, challenge, and change your understanding of what it is to pray with others, over a lifetime in all circumstances.”
Let me know how these books influence you.
georgehdonigian 
Fine list.
The Saliers quote about your book reminded me of a question I’ve been meaning to ask: Did the diplomat, the theologian, and the rabbi pray before or after they walked into the bar?
😉
Their entrance was an act of prayer. So was their departure. As for what happened in between, I’ll quote Robert Benchley: “Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.”